First, don't break ginseng, don't close the door; There is no mountain without enlightenment.
There are three levels of meditation from low to high, which refer to the three levels of Zen respectively. Breaking the ginseng and enlightening are Zen words, which refer to the first and second levels of the "three levels". If a walker can exhaust all feelings, fully see the falsehood of various laws, and realize the source of his soul (true colors or local scenery), it is called "breaking the customs at the beginning", or seeing through his fingers. After seeing sex, trying to practice hard will not only be hindered by "being", but also will not be obsessed with "emptiness". This is called "excessive clearance", doing great things. After that, if you practice hard, you can be silent and empty. Although you want to be present, you can use it freely without losing your true colors. This is called "crossing the prison". Generally speaking, living in the mountains and being isolated from the outside world is necessary to protect the sacred fetus.
Shut the door, also known as shut the door, is not a term and ethos in India. China didn't see the record of this practice until the Yuan Dynasty or even the Ming Dynasty. Seclusion may stem from Tibetan Buddhism's long-term practice in caves. When the Lama went to Chinese mainland with the Mongolian dynasty, seclusion became increasingly popular. "Notes on the Statue of the Zen Forest" said: "Since I entered the Yuan Dynasty, there has been a theory of seclusion. ..... Since I entered the Ming Dynasty, I have closed the door to learning Taoism. 」
Popular in ancient Zen: "If you don't break ginseng, you won't live in the mountains;" No enlightenment, no retreat. For Zen monks, they must wait for enlightenment before they are qualified to close their doors. Because closed-door cultivation requires a certain foundation, otherwise, three to five years of closed-door cultivation will either achieve nothing, or the evil forces will not be able to complete their original vows as scheduled. In addition to Zen, scholars from other sects often build cars behind closed doors. For example, the Pure Land Sect closed the Pure Land Pass in order to practice Buddhism. In order to cultivate legal concept, Hua Yanzong read Hua Yan Jing and closed the door of Hua Yan. In Buddhism, there is one of the most touching things called "closing the gap between life and death". Some pedestrians who have been overhauled have made a great vow to get rid of life and death all their lives, so they spend the last few years or even longer in seclusion until they have confidence in life and death. If you are not sure, you will never go through customs.
At present, there are still some monks practicing in the jungle temples. Generally, people who practice in seclusion have two purposes: one is to concentrate on reading the Tripitaka; Both of them can successfully specialize in a certain method. So the duration varies from several months to several years. A closed house is called a "closed house", which is usually built in a secluded place. A closed house must have certain living conditions, such as a small balcony where closed people can bask in the sun and there is a toilet inside. During the closed period, the principle is not to leave the house. Therefore, outside a closed house, someone must protect food, medicine and other things. This is called "keeping the customs".
In the temple, it is very important that someone is willing to retreat, so a grand retreat ceremony should be held. At the end of Guan Ju's retreat, the temple also held a grand ceremony to congratulate him, and many believers came to support Guan Ju. After Guan Yu went through the customs, he went to the main hall with the abbot to read a message of blessing, and then burned incense. After the confession, the Lord Guan must thank the Lord in the main hall.
Closed-door practice can put aside chores and put an end to external interference, which is one of the best ways to specialize. However, there are many karma conditions, one is closed-door meditation, and the other is the achievement of the temple, so it is very difficult.
These two maxims tell practitioners that living in the mountains behind closed doors is the way to gain great wisdom. A yogi must have a certain spiritual foundation before he can live in the mountains behind closed doors. Otherwise, living in the mountains on a whim behind closed doors is likely to be unsustainable. Sometimes, even if you persist, you may not be able to achieve the expected results or be possessed.
Second, it is better to sit quietly in the futon and wait for death than to become a monk on earth.
These two maxims are the words of Master Hanshan. Master Hanshan was a famous monk in Ming Dynasty. When he was young, he did Buddhist scriptures and repented. One day, Master Hanshan woke up a sleeping old man on the side of the road on his way back to the temple. At this time, Master Hanshan heard the conversation between husband and wife in the room and said, "It's either a thief or a ghost who left in the middle of the night! Master Hanshan was deeply ashamed to hear their conversation, and vowed to die by futon instead of being a monk on earth. 」
It is a way to turn over the dead and transform all beings. Buddhist ceremonies, such as the Land and Water Dharma Association and Orchestral Club, should not only recite scriptures, but also hold spells. More importantly, there should be a grand ceremony like Dharma. The so-called strict Dojo, pure three realms, advocating truth, repenting and observing behavior all have their necessity. However, in modern times, many monks have not regarded Buddhist scriptures as a way to transcend suffering and spread Buddhism to the public, but as a way to seek resources. The role of persuading death no longer exists, and Buddhist scriptures have increased the opportunities for monks to create evil. Therefore, in modern times, many eminent monks and great virtues opposed that monks were busy making Buddhist scriptures all day.
Master Hanshan's two maxims are intended to remind practitioners that becoming a monk means getting sick and dying, and the most convenient way to get sick and dying is to improve mindfulness and practice hard. You can't take classics as your career, you will fall because of evil deeds.
3. Golden Curtain and Silver Guest Hall; Pearl agate under the warehouse.
Yiboliao, living room and warehouse are the basic organizations of the jungle, and they are important tangkou in the "Four Tangkou". Yi Boliao collects information of permanent residence and maintains the legal system. Room management personnel, receiving ten parties; The warehouse is responsible for general affairs and taking care of the needs of life. These two maxims point out the important role of a living room and a warehouse in the jungle.
The inheritance of ancient Buddhism is based on the "curtain", and there are also many "curtain" hills in the modern jungle. The "mantle" is like the confidential secretary of the abbot monk, handling important affairs for the monk, managing the mantle of the monk, and shouldering the responsibility of "keepsake inheritance". Usually, together with the waiters such as decocting medicine, secretary and secretary, they "arrange the trip" and "wait on decocting medicine" for the big monk, handle the private affairs of the big monk, that is, do "data preservation" and "document supply" to provide the abbot with what he needs; In particular, it is responsible for "collecting and keeping" precious materials such as local chronicles, conventions, documents, contracts, legal objects and secrets, and for financial management such as "business accounting" and "budgeting".
The guest room is the window to the outside world in the jungle, and the guests in the guest room are important monks in the jungle. When believers enter the mountain gate, or come to contact, help, talk, or worship Buddha, the first contact is the guest. Knowing guests "receive ten parties" and "send them to welcome guests" must grasp the identity and purpose of visitors and give them appropriate treatment.
Many modern rooms from the forest have great permits. They are not only responsible for mediating disputes between monks and nuns, but also for maintaining the purity of Buddhism. Responsible for the personnel arrangement of major Buddhist activities and the listing of major affairs in the temple.
In addition, Zhike representatives often associate with "Shan Ye" and at the same time "take care of foreigners" and "pass them on" on behalf of big monks. Guest rooms have great power in the temple. Therefore, the jungle called the guest room "silver guest room".
The duties of the first hall of the treasury prime minister include: supplying daily necessities, storing grain, making annual budget, issuing single silver, rewarding people, and building repair. The warehouse is directly in charge of the daily diet and food resources of monks, and it is a place for the masses to practice and maintain their law, body and intelligence. As a keeper, the keeper must be pure-hearted, cherish his permanent residence, believe in cause and effect, and never give personal favors to his permanent possessions. Just like Master Baoshou, even if the abbot and monk sent someone to beg for a piece of ginger, they would not indulge themselves (there is a saying in Zen that "Baoshou ginger is spicy for thousands of years").
Therefore, the phrase "under the pearl agate warehouse" is enough to illustrate the great responsibility of the warehouse in the jungle. It requires future generations of warehouse managers to conscientiously perform their warehouse duties, safeguard their permanent interests, let the public live and work in peace and contentment, strive to run the road, and do a good job in logistics for the public.
Fourth, to be a Buddhist dragon elephant, first be a living thing.
This proverb reminds us that a yogi needs to start from his daily life if he wants to become a Buddhist dragon elephant. There is also a saying in the secular world that "greatness comes from the ordinary." No matter whether you become a monk at home or not, if you want to achieve something, you must do every little thing well.
From this proverb, we should know that the ancestors and great virtues of all previous dynasties all made the dragon elephant in their hard service to the public.
When the Buddha was alive, there was a monk named Tuobiao who worked hard every day. Even when someone knocked at the door in the middle of the night to sign the bill, he happily showed him the way with a lantern. After decades, he finally felt the blessing of his fingers shining naturally, and he no longer needed to play lanterns to guide him.
In Buddhism, the emphasis is not on human wisdom, but on bodhicitta. Most of this bodhicitta is cultivated in the work of serving all beings. Looking at Buddhist classics, we can find that the great masters of past dynasties were born ascetic and enlightened at work, such as:
Xuefeng Zen master served as the rice head under Dongshan Block; Zhu Qing's Zen master served as a rice head under the Mount Weishan; Ji Shan Zen Master served as the firewood head under the dice seat; Zen master Huaiyi served as the net head under the seat of Cuifeng. There are Shi Shuang Zen master sifting rice, Yunyan Zen master making shoes, Lin Ji Zen master planting pine, Yangshan Zen master grazing cattle, Dongshan Zen master planting tea, Yunmen Zen master carrying rice, Xuansha Zen master chopping wood, Zhaozhou Zen master sweeping the floor, Danxia Zen master weeding, Zen master altar lazy melting, printing teacher hall and so on. These actions of the ancestors of past dynasties all show that the significance of the work lies in expansion.
Tell yourself through this maxim that in the process of spiritual practice, don't covet enjoyment, first suffer hardship, then enjoy, work hard, constantly sublimate and hone yourself in the work of serving the public, and temper yourself into an accomplished person step by step.
Fifth, it is better to call the old monk to hell than to treat Buddhism as human feelings.
Worldly law is based on human feelings, but Buddhism is not. Some things are reasonable from the perspective of the world, but inconsistent from the perspective of Buddhism. Only when practice transcends human nature can there be the Buddha nature of Taoism.
In Buddhism, the phrase "It is better to teach old monks to go to hell than to treat Buddhism as human feelings" means that practitioners would rather die of poverty and hunger than build temples without followers, and they are even more unwilling to say anything or do anything that violates Buddhism.
There is a famous story in Buddhism, that is, the master of exhortation in the Tang Dynasty never came home after becoming a monk in middle age. In the past, the children of laymen grew up and missed their father very much, hoping to meet them. After many inquiries, he learned that his father was stationed in Wuxi, so he finally found the temple all the way. However, just when he left his father as a child and didn't know what his father looked like, a big monk just opened the door and asked, "Excuse me, Dade! Where is Master Cong Jian? " "What do you want with him?" The admonition master said, "Because he is my father! From the exhortation master, he pointed to the east and said, "There it is! After the child left, he closed the door of the admonition master and never opened it again.
People who study Buddhism, if they treat everything with human feelings, will of course stay away from the Tao. Only when they value Buddhism more than human feelings can they gain the benefits of Buddhism! In the face of Buddhist truth, even justice, we must have moral courage, take into account the needs of the public, adhere to the truth of Buddhism, and do nothing that deviates from Buddhism. Only in this way can we make greater achievements in our study.
Sixth, take care of the futon, take care of your feet and improve mindfulness.
This motto is often said by Zen master when educating Zen disciples. The motto is intended to tell the Zen master that when practicing meditation, we should improve our mindfulness, concentrate on one sentence and study it carefully, so as to get rid of the distractions that hinder the Tao until we prove great wisdom. So that you can really benefit from meditation.
Take care of permanent things, such as pearls in your eyes. The most common motto in the jungle is the above sentence. Every grass and tree you live in is a gift. A monk should improve his practice and return the merits of his practice to the masses of believers. On the other hand, permanent things are used by true practitioners to maintain color and strive to achieve Tao. When we use these permanent things, we should cherish them as we protect our eyes. If you don't know how to cherish and waste what you believe, you will suffer endless pain. That is, as the Buddhist scriptures say, "A grain of rice is as big as Mount Sumeru. If you eat it, you will not practice Buddhism, but also use armor and fur. " Therefore, as a monk, only by keeping the mind of "one porridge and one meal is hard to come by" and cherishing what we live in can we improve our career.
Seven, hit the novice monk, kneel the monk and burn the head of the bodhisattva.
Many people may be confused about this maxim. Isn't Buddhism about compassion? How can there be such a harsh thing! In fact, Buddhism is like this. Some seemingly ruthless education is the reason for creating dragon elephants in the future. Because of our habits, when we are under pressure, we are prone to anxiety. The way of Buddhist education is to let you know clearly the source of troubles, find out the cure and know how to adjust your mentality. As the saying goes, "kill your thoughts and let you live by the law!" Only by truly seeing through the troubles can we see the inner scenery.
Eight, rather move thousands of rivers, not disturbing people's hearts.
Beginners who are learning often have many ideas when they meditate and recite Buddha. At this time, one thing to do is to fight to the death, that is, to achieve the realm of immortality. In the end, I saw wisdom. It is not easy for a yogi to practice until he is born. When they study hard, you move his mind, and his long-term practice will be in vain, and his sin will be great.
For us ordinary people, we should be happy when we see others' efforts, and we should also admire the merits of others' monasticism. If you want to go out of date from them, try to make a detour, so as not to arouse the mind of practitioners and hinder the Tao industry. If you need to consult a yogi who is chanting or meditating, you should wait until the yogi has finished practicing. Only in this way can we respect the yogi and not disturb people's hearts.
Nine, let go of the belly to eat vegetarian dishes, stand firm and be a good person.
Buddhism advocates the prohibition of vegetarianism, aiming at cultivating human compassion and increasing the wisdom of monks. "Eating vegetarian food with an open stomach" aims to remind monks to cultivate their own compassion and care for all suffering beings.
As a monk, you must first become a noble person, which is usually called a good person. Master Taixu, a master of modern Buddhism, once said: "Buddha is the only one who can stop, and self-cultivation lies in personality." The success of man is the success of Buddha, which is a real reality. These words of Master Taixu are the best annotation to "stand firm and be a good person".
The above selection and introduction of several commonly used early warning aphorisms in the jungle. Through the interpretation of these Buddhist maxims, we can not only get the enlightenment of practicing, but also get the guidance of dealing with people.